Eugene Domingo and “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 4” versus Philippine theater
On a Monday afternoon, after a really long, extremely hot Labor Day weekend, there was a crowd at the PETA Theater Center in Quezon City. Media, theater practitioners, drag queens, and theater enthusiasts gathered for the media launch of PETA’s closing show of their 59th season, “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 4: Oh Sh*t It’s Live sa Cheter!”
The franchise has two films and a series under its umbrella and has now set its trademark meta-approach and satirical tone on the Philippine theater industry. The lobby was abuzz with excitement, and a line had quickly formed to get the best seats in the house because everyone wanted a piece of the action.
The launch began with a few words from PETA’s artistic director, J-mee Katanyag, who talked about wrapping up their season with a play that continues their current direction on “examining stories” and their effect on the audiences. And what better way to do that than by producing a play about making a play, which turns the spotlight back to the creators of these stories?
Playwright Chris Martinez continues “Babae sa Septic Tank’s” core identity of satirizing the medium. For the first two movies, they satirized the film industry, tackling poverty porn and romantic comedies, while the series satirizes a trend of historical revisionism—so it’s natural that the play would poke fun at the theater and everyone in it.
All the world’s a stage
The media launch also gave us a sneak peek: a 20-minute excerpt of the play. Film director Marlon Rivera, director and actor Melvin Lee, actor JC Santos, and Palanca Award-winning playwright Joshua Lim So entered the stage, which was dressed as a dining room with a large mural of Eugene Domingo’s face as the backdrop.
They talk about their thoughts on the theater, dropping names like (playwright and actor) Rody Vera and (actor) Joel Saracho in a manner that’s already funny on the surface level, but even funnier if you’re in the know. Each character is playing a fictionalized version of themselves, all of whom have been invited by Eugene Domingo, the character from the “Babae Sa Septic Tank” franchise.
When Domingo makes her entrance—in a crimson gown that would look perfect in a Greek play—she summons up the character that she called “her legacy” in the talkback that followed. She’s larger-than-life, and much like the movie version of Domingo, she has great big ideas and a great big vision.
She then gathered them all to do a modern revival of the classic Filipino play “Kahapon, Ngayon, at Bukas” by Aurelio Tolentino. She makes demands that the play must go back to the roots and traditions of theater—that it should be political and revolutionary. Tolentino’s play, written in 1903, is an anti-imperialist play that challenges the American occupation.
So, humorously, Domingo wants it staged on a boat in the middle of the West Philippine Sea.
Comedy that punches up
The short excerpt is fast-paced, funny, and biting. It doesn’t just take jabs at people, but also at other theater companies, PETA included. There are discussions about the rise in the popularity of musicals, the high ticket prices (yet still have a strong audience turnout for some shows), and the question of whether we are truly in a Golden Age for Philippine Theater.
“Babae sa Septic Tank” co-creator and an actor for the stage version, Rivera, also discusses the importance and history of satire in the Philippines. He mentions colonial forms like the komedya—that laughter has always been a part of the Filipino DNA, and that it is part of our culture to poke fun at those in power.
Because Philippine theater is doing so well, the comedy of the script is “punching up,” and this success needs to be interrogated and examined.
Adding more to the discussion on the form of satire, Lee, who is acting in the play but also the president of PETA, adds, “Ang Pinoy mas gustong tumawa. It’s how they cope.” He says that it is in our culture to laugh at ourselves and laugh at others, “sometimes to a fault because we aren’t confrontative,” but he says that if you push your message through laughter, “mas madaling makipagusap.”
Fiction and reality
There is a collective understanding of Eugene Domingo as an actress who gained popularity through the films “Kimmy Dora” and “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank,” with the latter showcasing her full range of talents and comedic timing. We can easily separate the artist from the persona of the film. But the other players, like Rivera, Lee, Santos, and So, have to navigate these characters, who are versions of themselves.
Once the roles have been cast, Chris Martinez sat down with each actor and interviewed them to be able to write the script—he had been working on it since last year—incorporating who they are into the fictionalized versions they play. But director Maribel Legarda informs us that the characters they play are merely archetypes of the kinds of people you see backstage.
While each actor is playing themselves, using their names and their accolades in the character, their characters represent an actor (Santos), a producer (Lee), a director (Rivera), or a playwright (So) who will then be a vessel for the satire to play out.
“When I finally read the script,” shares So, “parang hindi din ako ‘yon. It was also a version of myself; it’s hyper-realistic.” There are lines he says in the play that he wouldn’t really say in real life, so it was something he had to learn to ride along with in the performance.
Big concepts, big discussions, big production
While the play pokes fun at the proliferation of musicals in the current theater landscape, the excerpt already includes a song and dance number. “Septic Tank 4” is already making fun of itself as well as making fun of others. It includes itself in the joke.
But what the satirical tone does is raise a mirror to the industry to ignite a discussion on what Martinez says, “where it [Philippine theater] has been, where it is now, and where it is going.”
Lee insists that while certain issues are raised, the play itself is not prescriptive. The answer must come from the response of the audience and the people the show is talking to and about. The play also steers away from discussing controversies that are not apt in a satire, as the play is not the proper venue to air grievances of personal matters. Instead, it feels like it will be looking at the totality of the industry and help encourage improvements that will only make the world of theater better while also celebrating its success.
